Islamabad
Feb 26 - Centre for Innovation and
Entrepreneurship (CIE) - National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) successfully
culminated the grand finale of the second Prime Minister’s Entrepreneurial
Challenge, DISCOVER - Prosperity through Entrepreneurship, here on Monday.
DISCOVER, a national level business plan competition patronized by NUST, has
been endorsed by the honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Spanning over six months, the
competition came to its exciting end with a group of seasoned panelists
deciding on five teams to be termed winners of the second episode of the grand
event. These included Boondh, Coal Ash
Brick, Futureon Engineering Technology, Nanocides and Zarai Otaque. Rector NUST Engr Muhammad Asghar distributed
certificates among the winning teams. However, an august prize distribution
ceremony, likely to be graced by the honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan
himself as the chief guest, will be held shortly.

Over 1600 students from across 55 universities
of Pakistan participated in the competition to showcase 376 brilliantly
conceived ideas. After the registration, there started a rigorous process of
training, mentoring and selection of the best among the participating teams for
the final stage of the competition. In the Grand Finale, the top ten teams, presented
their innovative ideas before a jam-packed audience. These included business plans related
to biotechnology, electronics, power generation, agriculture, transport,
health, food, education, plantation, alternative energy etc.

Addressing the audience, Rector NUST Engr
Muhammad Asghar felicitated the winning teams; extolled runners-ups; expressed
his gratitude to the esteemed panelists from the industry for their keen
observations and analyses; and lauded NUST officials for their untiring efforts
to turn the event into a real success. He said that the role of modern day
universities was then by all means more productive than it ever was, as it
revolved around the evolving concepts of building economies, communities and
leadership within the parameters of academia.

He said that NUST was taking every
measure to identify as well as nurture the entrepreneurial talent deeply
embedded in the youth of Pakistan. For this among other activities, he added, Discover
Business Plan Competition was being held regularly since the last year. The Rector highlighted that one of the
significant benefits
drawn from the competition was a platform paving the way for a close and
productive interaction between the industry and the academia. It helped
hundreds of students engage and work with high profile business and industry leaders.
He maintained that the students trained the
previous year through this program went on to bring glory to Pakistan at
international fora by reaching the victory stands in international
competitions.

Earlier, the participants from the
previous year’s entrepreneurial challenge narrated their success stories,
describing how they manifested their business ideas as viable enterprises.

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National University of Sciences and Technology
H-12, Islamabad, Pakistan